Tong Gallery+Projects is honoured to announce that it will present Zheng Tianming's first solo exhibition "XXILD" at Tong Gallery from August 29, 2020. 

"XXILD" is a new form created by combining the two English words "WILD" and "MILD" (wild and gentleness). Their initials W and M are symmetrical, and the two letters overlap to form the shape of XX. "XXILD" is a combination of wildness and gentleness. The exhibition will focus on the latest works of the artist in the past two years, including still life painting and figure painting. The artist used himself as an image collector, borrowed the form of Dutch still life in the 17th century, sampled Internet images, popular cultural elements, and Japanese animated characters in the 1980s and 1990s. These images have been processed by the artist and reorganised on the canvas to form a virtual future life.

Thanks for your attention.

Have a talk

Zheng Tianming/Z 

Tong Gallery/H

H: The "future life" you conceived can be explained in detail. Is there anything particular about Dutch still life painting? 

Z: There are many comics in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s that describe the 21st century, such as "Dream", "Kung Shell Mobile Team" and "New Century Evangelion". Today, the description of these works has an outdated sense of future, similar to the feeling of space-time chaos. This feeling is very interesting, and I want to catch it. In the 17th century, the Netherlands became rich through maritime trade, and all kinds of good things in the world were available, giving birth to the world's first golden age of consumerism. It reflects that artists begin to depict the material wealth they have obtained, such as porcelain from China and Persian carpets. The painters gave these depicted objects a meaning and turned the painted still life into symbolic symbols, such as withered flowers reminding people that time is fleeting, and bread and wine represent the Eucharist and the resurrection of Jesus. These paintings were used as decorations into the merchant's home. In my new work, I recorded some slices of contemporary consumer society in the form of 17th-century Dutch still life paintings. For example, in Dutch still life paintings, the flowers that represent the passage of time are painted by me as a texture similar to glass or acrylic, which is cheap and eternal. The flowerware is made of the sole of the sneakers. I especially like to see the design of the midsole of various sneakers. The lines on the midsole have an industrial aesthetic feeling. The sole of the sneakers is used as a flowering device to separate the aesthetic attributes of the sneakers from the functionality of the sneakers, which is a kind of deconstruction of the sneakers. The steak, which symbolises the abundance and luxury of life, turned into a sculpture in my picture, showing a marble-like fat pattern. The skull representing death was replaced by me with a jawbone model that fixed the hip-hop singer's golden teeth. 

H: Can you talk about these two works in detail? 

Z: The armour in the picture comes from a Japanese cartoon in the 1990s, called Space Knight, which is the future cutting-edge technology to protect the earth. The flower arrangement is a particularly popular yeezy shoe in recent years. Together with stone carvings from ancient Greece, they have become the furnishings of the future family. 

H: There is basically a countertop + items in the centre of the composition, which looks really stable. Compared with your relatively emotional and even restless works before, it has changed a lot. In the cartoon, "cutting-edge technology to protect the earth in the future", this kind of value recourse and the current popular objects (sneakers, brands, etc.), how do you deal with their relationship?

 Z: In this batch of works, I put all my emotions in the conception stage of the manuscript. After thinking about what to draw, I will use an iPad or computer to make a highly complete manuscript, and then plan the workflow and accurately draw the manuscript on the canvas. These two values are equally important to me. One is needed when the earth is in crisis, and the other is needed in daily modern life. 

H: Are these pictures of women found on the Internet? 

Z: The body part is taken from the selfies of some fashion bloggers on social media, and the head is a mixture of two-dimensional characters and sneakerhead sneakers. 

H: This group of works obviously has a male perspective from the dynamics and clothing of the characters, waiting to be watched and played. Female bodies or women are usually objectified in reality. I don't know what your intention is? 

Z: I hope that the body and consciousness are separated, and the soul can get out of the body and stand outside to appreciate and shape its own body. So the characters in my painting are not passively waiting to see. First of all, their bodies meet their own aesthetic needs. The materials I chose are fat and thin, and there are no specific preferences and standards, but they are all perfect bodies for me, because I can see that the blogger who takes a selfie is super satisfied with his body. 

H: Can you talk about the separation of body and consciousness mentioned earlier in detail? 

Z: You can change your body like changing clothes. There is no need to lie to the ugly duckling. Although you look ugly, this is you. You are unique and the best. Just throw a white swan's body and change it. I take the example of the ugly duckling, which focusses not on the standard of beauty, but on the right to choose. I hope people can have the right to choose their own bodies. My wife does medical and plastic surgery-related work. Before, I would think that their aesthetics were too simple and almost the same. Later, I felt that I was a little narrow-minded. They dared to choose to transform their bodies, which is very brave and worthy of respect. I will reflect on myself. 

H: Have you ever wanted to change your genes or appearance? If you think so, what are the factors that may touch you to change? For example, the good-looking, class, identity problems, etc. recognised by others. 

Z: Yes, for example, I want to know what the appearance of a male idol is. When playing basketball, I also want to have the body of LeBron James. It's similar to a real-life role-playing game. 

H: Have you seen Westworld? The setting of this kind of bionic is actually the same logic as that of the mother. 

Z: I've seen a little bit. Now we are almost the same as bionics in some way. In the western world, robots are zero every 24 hours, and we may be zero in 70 or 80 years. With the development of science and technology, our boundaries will become more and more blurred. If I can choose, I will choose to be a bionic person. 

H: That's all for today, thank you.